Book excerpt: If you are a mother raising a son without a father this book was written for you. What are the 5 major diseases and ailments that your son is more likely to acquire without his father (or a suitable male role model) in his life? What are the 4 critical skills that a father can teach his son that a mother cannot teach? What are the 4 characteristics that adult sons without fathers possess that put them at a disadvantage in developing relationships? These questions-and many more-are answered in this book. Whether they lose their fathers to divorce or death, or whether their fathers go to prison or abandon them at birth, or were simply never in the picture-such as in artificial insemination-boys that grow up in homes without their biological father go through childhood at a disadvantage. There are almost 9 million such sons in America. The authors believe that mothers can overcome those disadvantages with effective parenting tailored to their sons' needs. The authors are convinced that most mothers want to do what is right for their sons, and if that does not always occur, it is usually because they do not always have the right information at their fingertips. Specifically, this book was written for: * Single mothers who are raising sons without a father. * Married mothers contemplating divorce. * Mothers with sons who have remarried. * Lesbian mothers who are raising a son. * Adoptive parents who are raising a son. Most self-help parenting books are "bucket brigade" manuals that are written to help parents put out the fires that arise in the normal course of parenting a child. The authors do that, too, with the problems that are specific to fatherless boys, but their major focus is teaching skills that will help mothers prevent problems from ever developing. Sons who grow up without fathers have different needs, different experiences, and different life expectations from sons who grow up with fathers, and those differences begin in childhood and continue throughout life. Sons with fathers, absent physical or emotional abuse in the family, usually grow up to consider the world to be a friendly place with potential for great good. Without special parenting by their mothers, sons without fathers invariably see the world as an unfriendly place with potential for great harm. Mardi Allen, Ph.D. and James L. Dickerson are co-authors of "How to Screen Adoptive and Foster Parents: A Workbook for Professionals and Students" and "The Basics of Adoption: A Guide for Building Families in the U.S. and Canada." Dr. Allen is a psychologist who counsels families in private practice, clinical liaison for the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, and a former president of the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards. Dickerson is a social work innovator who has developed new programs such as the Foster Parent Syndrome, a screening procedure for selecting adoptive and foster parents, and "You've Got a Friend," a federally funded socialization program for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In addition, he is the author of two health-related books, "Cirrhosis: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed" and "Yellow Fever: A Deadly Disease Poised to Kill Again."